


Another Day

by Kanja



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Brotp, Space Battles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-26 10:18:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6234775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kanja/pseuds/Kanja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"They got us," Finn huffed, panting. "We're being kidnapped by the Guavian Death Gang."</p><p>"Worse," Poe said, staring at the one light still on in the ship. The holovid cast a blue glow on his face.</p><p>"Worse!?" Finn took a lap around the control room, groaning. "Don't tell me that! Who, Poe? Who could be worse than the Guavian Death G--"</p><p>"Ex-boyfriend."</p><p>"Ex-boyfriend?" Finn asked. "<i>Your </i>ex-boyfriend?"</p><p>{Poe and Finn are on a routine enough mission, until they run into someone from Poe's past who has been keeping a pretty hefty grudge.}</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Day

Poe Dameron could cut up the skies in anything with an engine. Today, it was a rustbucket that hardly qualified as a transport, cobbled together with old parts from battles that began and ended long before Finn was even born. Upon first glance, Finn wasn’t even sure that the ship would fly, but Poe had given him that no worries grin and they were off, soaring with the stars, transcending them in hyperspace.

 

There was a reason for the extra cargo space and jenky ride. There had been a tip to D’Qar just a few hours earlier that a solitary First Order ship was spotted not far from Takodana. According to the source, it looked like it was burning, which meant a race against time before the valuable intel onboard literally went up in flames. The general sent her best pilot, and Finn stubbornly laid out a chronological list of reasons as to why he should accompany the golden boy of the Resistance. As it turned out, she didn’t need much convincing; Finn would know what to salvage and what was ultimately useless, and by now, the general trusted him implicitly. 

 

This was going to be an easy job, a job that would win him a lot of glory and respect. Or so Finn had thought, until they came out of hyperspace and their transport started shuddering like a low-power droid, the overhead lights flickering like candles. Finn didn’t need a pilot to tell him what the trouble was. By now, he was well-acquainted with the nature of tractor beams.

 

“We got company,” Poe said, as if that wasn’t obvious enough. "They're jamming our identifier. My best guess: Guavian Death Gang. They’re probably here for the ship too."

  
Finn was nearly inconsolable. He had been intercepted in space enough times to dread it altogether. "Guavian Death--"

  
The lights cut out. 

  
"Oh no," Poe said. 

  
"They got us," Finn huffed, panting. "We're being kidnapped by the Guavian Death Gang."

  
"Worse," Poe said, staring at the one light still on in the ship. The holovid cast a blue glow on his face.

  
"Worse!?" Finn took a lap around the control room, groaning. "Don't tell me that! Who, Poe? Who could be worse than the Guavian Death G--"

  
"Ex-boyfriend."

  
"Ex-boyfriend?" Finn asked. " _ Your _ ex-boyfriend?"

  
"What do you want, Chaz?" Poe asked, leaning close to the blue screen. 

  
"Well well well. If it isn't the one who flew away--in  _ my _ ship--"

  
Poe was displaced very suddenly. On the other side of the screen, the only thing that ‘Chaz’ could see was the very angry stare of a stranger. 

  
"Listen to  _ me _ ," Finn growled. "We're on a very important mission for some very important friends, and believe me, buddy, you don't want to get in our way  _ or _ theirs."

  
"Who's this?" Chaz remained unaffected. "Replaced me already, Dameron?"

  
"That's right," Finn snapped. "Now let us go immediately or--"

  
"I'm coming in."

  
"See, now why'd you do that?" Poe asked, checking his pistol and sliding behind a panel that faced the door. It was enough cover to suffice. "Now he's gonna come in here and break stuff."

  
Finn had no clue. Speechless, he moved into position opposite his partner. "Uh. What do we do?"

  
"Leave the talking to me," Poe advised. 

  
"Good plan."

  
The airlock hissed hot, stale air as pressure released from the cabin. Finn didn’t have to wait long for his first look at the pirates. There were three of them altogether, each of them clad in tailored leather jackets and rough leather pants to match. The two on either end of the procession were obviously muscle, standing so tall that they had to duck to make it in through the port. The man in the middle had to be Chaz, judging by the severe, predatory look in his blue eyes and the proud swagger with which he traversed the ramp. They were all armed with blasters, and had them raised and ready.

  
Chaz stood in the center of the cockpit, gesturing for his men to sweep the ship. "Come on out, Dameron. Let's be civil, for once."

  
"Put the blasters down and I'll be civil, Chaz."

  
"I hear you're still using our name," Chaz said, clearing the corner with his blaster sweeping to and fro. "We're on the run, you know. Word around the Rim is that the Irving Boys plotted to assassinate a senator and steal his precious yacht. When I heard the news, I knew it was you."

  
"Yeah, well," Poe muttered. 

  
"You assassinated a  _ senator _ ?" Finn yelped. " _ Wh _ \--"  He was silenced by a blaster bolt singing the corner of his cover. Chaz was locked on to him and moving quickly when Poe stepped out from behind him. 

  
"Leave him alone, Chaz! He's got nothing to do with this." Chaz's accomplices pulled their blasters on him, so Poe put up his hands and dropped his weapon. Finn followed suit, though he would not disarm himself of the hateful stare he held on Chaz.    
  


"What is this about? Huh?"

  
"The plan, Finn." Poe reminded him. 

  
"This is about a lot of things," Chaz said. "Retribution. Redemption. A broken heart. Mostly it's about me taking this one in to clear the air on our name. It wasn't enough that you took my best ship -- you had to get us hunted down by every Republic birdie this side of the Core?"

  
"We can talk about this," Poe swore. Finn saw something change in his eyes, something that made even Finn feel like he was speaking from the heart. "Once you hear what really happened, you'll understand."

  
"I'm sure I'll hear all about it." Chaz discharged his blaster. The beam was blinding, but there was no mistaking its trajectory: straight through Finn’s knee. Poe heard him scream, and heard himself yelling in kind. 

  
"Lock them in cargo. Hymi, keep both eyes on this one," Chaz said, shoving Poe at his man. "He's slippery, this one."

  
"You don't know what you're doing, Chaz," Poe warned. 

  
"Oh, I do," Chaz replied giddily. "I've been planning this day for years now."

  
  


***

  
  


As promised, they were trussed to the grate flooring of the cargo bay, surrounded by burnt-out ship detritus and powered down droids. Hymi stood over them with his blaster stuck in Finn's face, and Chaz crouched beside Poe to pat his cheek. 

 

“We could’ve been so good together.”

 

“Everybody's gotta grow up sometime,” Poe replied cooly. His face turned with the strength of Chaz’s blow, his cheek reddened and bruised in the aftermath. 

 

“Don't even blink,” Chaz told Hymi. “I've gotta radio what's left of the Senate.”

 

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Poe called after him. 

 

Finn was working over Hymi. “Irving Boys? How come I've never heard of you?”

 

“We've been in hiding for awhile now,” Hymi said. “Compliments of  _ someone _ . Bad for business, Poe was.”

 

Finn was grinning. “The First Order isn't gonna take kindly to this.”

 

“What's this one talking about, Poe?”

 

“Check my jacket,” Finn said. He twitched like a madman, forcing Hymi back a step. “ _ Hurry _ ! You haven't got long before they're locked on your ship and sending backup.”

 

Hymi was extra cautious going through Finn's pocket. He finally came away with a small, white holobadge. 

 

“FN-2187,” Hymi read. 

 

“That's right.”

 

It was slow dawning on Hymi, but it did dawn. “You defected, Poe. You… of all people,  _ you _ ?” 

 

“That's right,” Poe said. “And Chaz has no idea what's coming for him.”

 

“You know Chaz,” Hymi growled. “He can outrun you, he can outrun the First Order's fleet no problem. Don't even think of trying to escape.  _ Traitor _ .”

 

Finn shared a glance with Poe. Whatever the joke between them, Hymi didn't wait to hear the punchline. He scrambled up the cargo stairs in double time, yelling for Chaz before the lock even opened. 

 

The second the blast door closed, Finn turned his back to Poe.

 

“Hurry.”

 

“I've got you,” Poe said, turning his back too. They both fumbled blindly with one another's bindings. Poe was the first to get Finn free, who turned around and tore at his ties frantically. “You’re full of good plans, you know that?” 

 

“I'm all right,” Finn laughed. 

 

“You got one for getting us out of here?”

 

“I think it's your turn,” Finn said. “... I got nothing.”

 

“Yeah, me neither,” Poe admitted, rubbing his wrists where the ties had left a mark. “I'm sure the general will send someone once she realizes that we haven’t called in for awhile. We just gotta hold out til her crew gets here.”

 

“How long could that be?”

 

“Too long,” Poe said, grabbing Finn's shoulder and ushering him to a secluded corner of the bay. They crouched together in the shadows, staring at the door. “Wing it?”

 

“Wing it,” Finn agreed, nodding. “Listen closely. He's gotta be on his way back by now.”

 

“Stay calm,” Poe said cheerily. 

 

“I'm fine. You?”

 

“Great,” Poe replied. “I know you didn't rescue me from certain death back on that Star Destroyer just to watch me die at the hands of some junior-tier pirates.”

 

Finn laughed. “I'm glad you have faith in me.”

 

“Got us this far, buddy,” Poe said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “ _ Shh-shh-shh _ . You hear that?”

 

Poor Hymi had no idea what was waiting for him. He came in, groaned at the sight of the empty ropes loose on the cargo floor, and turned just in time to see Finn's fist crashing down on his skull. Finn grabbed Hymi’s blaster, but lost a few threads off the arm of his jacket as he flinched out of the way of a barrage of blaster bolts. 

 

“The door!” he howled. “Get the--”

 

“On it!” Poe cried as the door released. Finn emptied a few shots through the narrowing port and then scrambled into cover. “That's not gonna hold ‘em for long! You okay?”

 

Finn was hoping that Poe wouldn't notice. “Yeah. It's just a scratch,” he said, holding his cramping leg. The wound Chaz had inflicted upon him earlier was deep, and though the black fabric of his glove didn't show it, he was gushing blood every time he moved. 

 

“This is not the time to get cute,” Poe admonished him. “You can't walk.”

 

“I can walk.”

 

“Finn!” Poe growled as the door went active again. The light from the hall blared through. 

 

“Fine!” Finn yelled back. “You're bait. You trust me?” 

 

“I'll let you know!” Poe called over his shoulder, taking off at a lightning clip. Running like a madman into a hail of blaster fire filled him with dread and leadened his legs, so he succumbed to it, like he succumbed to vertigo every time he soared through low atmosphere in his X-wing, knowing that one wrong twitch could be his last. He didn't recognize the man who came into the cargo bay shooting, but the look in his eyes was universally human: the look of someone facing down an unfathomable horror.

 

Poe screamed at the top of his lungs and ran at full power into the line of his enemy's fire. He heard a bolt compressing in the chamber, ready to fire, and then he heard it go off with a laser shriek. The bolt hit the ceiling and the shooter hit the floor, smoke pouring from his wound. 

 

“Nice  _ shot _ ,” Poe said as Finn came stumbling up behind him, speeding and off-balance. He caught his friend with an arm under his shoulder and helped him limp into the hall. 

 

“Not my best,” Finn demurred, wiping the sweat from his brow. “How many more?”

 

“Five,” Poe said, without hesitation. “And two down, so three. Not including Chaz, that is.”

 

“If we survive this, I've got a few questions for you,” Finn warned him. 

 

“I'll answer them right now. You know how it is when you're young. The bad boy--”

 

Finn's blaster went off under Poe's arm, dropping another crewmate behind them. 

 

“Two,” Finn said in time with the lifeless thud echoing in the background. “And  _ I'm _ young. You don't see me taking up with kidnapper pirates.”

 

“It was racing, back in the day,” Poe corrected him, ushering him into a closet. They each took one side of the port and peered into the hall. “No pilot worth his salt didn't compete for pink flimsis once or twice in his career.”

 

“I'm beginning to learn that nothing in this galaxy is what it seems,” Finn said, checking the charges on his rifle. “I've got one shot.”

 

“Better make it count. Need me to play bait again?”

 

Finn was breathing hard, but deep in thought. “No,” he said. “I've got a better idea.”

  
  


***

  
  


“Oh, this is gonna be bad,” Finn said, hanging from his fingers. The service tunnel below was a lot deeper than he'd anticipated, and his leg had had enough impact for today. 

 

“Finn,” Poe said seriously. “Let go. I've got you.”

 

“I'm heavy,” Finn hissed. “There's no way.”

 

“Finn--”

 

Poe didn't get to finish, because Finn lost his grip and went falling anyway. True to his word, Poe caught him -- awkwardly, but well enough that his leg never hit the ground. With the wind knocked out of both of them, they took a moment straightening out, then looked up at once. 

 

Poe ducked under Finn's arm as he started running the best he could. “Up here, up here!” he said, turning them gradually toward the left fork in their path. Here, the only way through was to duck and crawl. 

 

Poe paused at the low entrance, taking in the pained grimace on Finn's face and the gasping wheeze of each breath he took. “I've got it from here.”

 

Finn hesitated for only a second, then nodded. Poe was off like a bullet, banging up his knees and scratching his shoulders on the sharp piping overhead, but he found the fusebox in moments. Bathed in the red glow from the panel, Poe started slamming and pulling things indiscriminately, quitting only when the lights flickered and died. He heard Finn cheering from the outside, but he wasn't done yet. 

 

“This is for  _ The Errowid _ ,” he said, pulling one more fuse. “And this--” He leaned back on his elbows and kicked the box with all his might, satisfied by the metal crunch, “is for everything else.”

 

The ship shuddered around them. Poe reappeared silently, drawing a gasp of relief out of Finn. 

 

“You got it open?” he asked, hopeful. At that moment, they heard two screams in unison as the airlock howled open. The voices were squelched in such a morbidly abrupt way that Finn could feel Poe shuddering against him. 

 

It wasn't often personal for pilots, Finn realized. Even with Poe’s daredevil maneuvering on the battlefield, he probably rarely heard screams like that. Finn squeezed his shoulder, trading looks with him. 

 

“I'm good,” Poe said. “You good?”

 

“ _ I'm _ good,” Finn insisted. “From what I hear, you have a very angry ex to answer to. You sure you're good?”

 

“... I'm ready to get this over with,” Poe amended. “One shot, huh?”

 

“Don’t worry,” Finn swore, “I’ll use it wisely.” 

  
  


***

  
  


The only part of the ship that wasn't pouring through the airlock was the cockpit and adjoining hall, so they had to stay low in the tunnel to make it through. Finn knew how lucky he was to have someone with as intimate an understanding of ships as Poe Dameron, because when Poe started pulling up the overhead grate, Finn expected them to both take a sudden trip into the stars. 

 

That didn't happen, of course. Poe knew this ship like it was his own, landing them right in front of the cockpit doors. 

 

“Open up, Chaz!” Poe yelled through the door. “It's just us now.”

 

Finn had every intention of standing between Poe and the door, but Poe shook his head. He had already gotten his friend into enough trouble for one day. The leg wound alone would set him back a week in the bay, especially with all the strain he'd put on it. 

 

The door began to open, and that was where Finn hit his limit. “I'm not letting you go in there alone,” he hissed. 

 

“I got us into this mess,” Poe said. 

 

Finn protested, “It's not about that.”

 

“I'm not asking you to sit this one out completely,” Poe elaborated. “Just wait til it gets quiet. If you don't hear me talking, you know I'm in trouble.”

 

Chaz was exactly as Poe remembered him, crouched over the flight instrument panel, his blue eyes staring sharply into the stars. Like Poe, he piloted by instinct and sight, navigating by the stars and the pull of inertia. Sure, there were a few scars here and there that Poe didn't remember, and his face had hard lines that weren’t there before, but it was easy to slip back into the past seeing him like this. 

 

“I knew they'd send you,” Chaz said quietly. “When I called in that tip about the First Order ship, I knew. It was risky, but it was the only chance I'd ever have to see you again.”

 

“Well, you saw me,” Poe said. “The best thing you could do for yourself now is disappear.”

 

“Why is it that every time you come into my life, I lose everything?” Chaz asked. He finally turned away from his instruments and locked eyes with Poe. There was pain there, and rage. 

 

“You've never lost anything that belonged to you,” Poe pointed out. “That ship I stole, you stole it first. All the money in our pool, we didn't get that legitimately. This ship--” he said, rapping his knuckles against the durasteel wall. “What is it? Corellian? Where'd you even pick this up?”

 

“You never had a taste for the finer things,” Chaz said. 

 

“I never had a taste for extorting and kidnapping, you mean. Give it up, Chaz. This is your last shot.”

 

“We were supposed to go out with a bang,” Chaz said mournfully. “Not like this.”

 

“Neither of us are gonna get to choose how we go out,” Poe said. “You know that. Not the way we are.”

 

“ _ We _ ,” Chaz repeated, smiling in a way that made Poe's blood run cold. “It's been awhile since there was a ‘we,’ huh?”

 

Poe stepped forward, and Chaz raised a blaster that had materialized from what seemed like thin air. “Chaz!” he yelled. “Don't--”

 

“I  _ will _ choose how I go out,” Chaz snarled. The blaster pivoted in his hand, the muzzle switching from Poe to the side of Chaz's head. Frantically, Poe detached from the reality of the moment, hearing himself yelling, seeing himself run forward. Somewhere far away from the cold quiet of his panicked state, a blaster fired. When Poe's ears stopped ringing, he found himself huddled over Chaz's shoulder, holding the pirate’s bleeding hands in the air. 

 

Chaz was screaming, staring with wide eyes at his missing fingers. One was still curled around the trigger of his unfired blaster, which had slid under the captain's console. Finn stood in the doorway, discarding his spent rifle over his shoulder. 

 

“... He's okay?”

 

“He'll be fine,” Poe said, patting Chaz's back. “I'll take care of him. You radio back home and let them know what's going on.”

 

“How much do you want me to tell them?” Finn asked, snickering. 

 

Poe grinned. “Give ‘em enough to keep ‘em wondering, buddy.”

  
  


***

  
  


No matter how many potshots were traded in secret between the Resistance and the First Order, no matter how many systems were fried or how many populations were subjugated, the New Republic brand of justice prevailed. Poe supposed that it was a kind of comfort, watching his former friend get taken in and processed like the galaxy was still a civilized, orderly place. He was to be put on trial once the investigators accumulated the sum of his crimes, which Poe knew was a long time coming. At the very least, all he had to worry about now in the stars was the First Order, and the Guavian Death Gangs. 

 

And Kanjiklub. And whatever opportunistic vultures moved in on the void that the Irving Boys would leave behind. If there was one constant in the galaxy beyond life and death, then pirates were surely it. 

 

“Heeeey.” Finn was on crutches, but that didn’t stop him from dragging a tray of edibles to Poe’s door when he didn’t show up to eat with the others. Truthfully, his head was so heavy with thoughts that he’d simply forgotten how to adjust to the routine of his day. “I saved some cushnips from Snap. Almost lost a finger. You hungry?”

 

Finn let himself down heavily on Poe’s cot.

 

“Not really,” Poe admitted. “Lost my appetite a little.”

 

“That’s too bad,” Finn said, grinning. “You’re gonna eat anyway. Light-headed pilots crash.”

 

“I don’t need an empty stomach to crash,” Poe replied, grinning right back at him. “And you don’t need to bring me food to get all those answers you want.”

 

“No answers necessary,” Finn protested, holding up his hands. “I came to make sure you weren’t driving yourself crazy. I remember how it is.”

 

It was hard to remember that every First Order vessel they blew out of orbit out was packed full of Finn’s former comrades, people he had grown up with and shared meals with and learned to love as brothers. Everything happened so quickly these days that none of them had any time to mourn anyone.

 

“And,” Finn added, “ _ someone  _ left their terminal open in the lab, so I took the pleasure of reading through your logs.”

 

“I get it now,” Poe laughed. “Give me one of those.”

 

“Anything for the man who stole a senator’s ship,” Finn replied, handing over a roll and holding his own aloft. “To the best damned pilot in the Resistance.”

 

Poe played along. “To the best damned shot in the galaxy.”

 

“To my one good leg.”

 

“To all the trouble you’ll get into on that one good leg.”

 

Finn grinned.

 

“To happy endings, with a twist.”

 

Poe said, “I like that one,” and they ate and laughed riotously, saving their mourning for yet another day.


End file.
